Losing Everything

Chapter 11.3

Lucy waited while the cop wrote. When he was finished, he looked up, and seemed to be waiting for Lucy to keep talking, so she did. She explained as best she could. About Bitmo and the endless fighting there and that yes she had taken out money, and probably shouldn’t have, but that she needed it and hadn’t been paid a salary in weeks and it was her money anyway, technically, at least in part, since she was a shareholder and an owner of the company. So it wasn’t theft, she said, not really, it was more just an accounting slip-up, in that she hadn’t done all the paperwork she probably ought to have done first, before she made the withdrawal.

It was just an accounting mistake she said, and as she said it she realized that was mostly true.

The cop seemed to think so too.

He said that was all okay, and sorry to bother her but they just had to check, and that he would file a report, and the financial crimes team from Sydney would be in touch if they needed anything else.

“Oh,” Lucy said, a little dismayed. “Do you think they will be?”

Probably not, the cop said. Probably, given there were bankruptcy proceedings underway, nothing much would happen until that process was finished.

Lucy nodded, relieved. “Hey,” she said, curious. “How did you find me?”

He pointed to her car, the company car, that was parked beside them. “I drove past and saw it.”

“No, but how did you know that was my car?”

“The number plate is on a watch-list.”

“Oh,” Lucy said, surprised. “Oh shit. Is that bad?”

“Not really. It’s marked as a person of interest’s vehicle. When I checked, it said financial crimes wanted to talk to you about the company credit card.”

“So I’m not actually a wanted criminal or anything?”

The cop shook his head. “Not yet.”

Lucy looked at him, startled, and decided he was joking. She smiled, a little weakly.

“I suppose someone might want the keys for the car back, though,” the cop said.

“Yeah,” Lucy said, and then thought. “Why? Is it reported as stolen or something?”

“Not stolen.”

“But they’ll want it?”

The cop shrugged. “It depends on the lease, I’d imagine. And how much notice they have to give you. Things like that.”

“I can give you the keys right now.”

He shook his head. “Don’t give me the keys, wait until someone gets in touch and asks you for them.”

Lucy nodded.

“But if you can tell me how to get hold of you,” the cop said. “That would be useful.”

Lucy gave him Erica’s phone number and her own email, and the cop wrote those down, too. Then he said thank you, and that was all he needed, and got back in his own car and drove away.

Lucy stood there for a moment, a bit shocked how far things had gone, and then, slowly, she started walking back towards Erica’s. She was glad that nothing awful seemed to be about to happen after all, even though she was still a little surprised that the police had become involved. She was also glad her car had been parked down the road a little, away from Erica’s house and out of sight of Erica’s front windows, so that Erica couldn’t glance outside and see Lucy talking to the police. It was better that way, Lucy thought. It was less embarrassing.

She walked slowly, looking at the sea, and thinking.

Erica’s coffee was cold by the time she got back.